Region-free Street Fighter on Xbox recalled

[Alpha]

When fighting game fans got their hands on the first copies of Street Fighter Anniversary Collection, which released this week in Japan only, they made an interesting discovery--the game booted up in all Xbox hardware, regardless of region. It even played over Xbox Live with no compatibility issues. This came as great news to Street Fighter fans in the US who did not want to wait for the game's planned February release.

 

This morning, Capcom pulled the game from store shelves. While Capcom made no official statement on either the region coding or the recall, the publisher reportedly told Japanese retailers that it concerned a bug in the game.

 

Coincidence? No, most likely.

 

Capcom's Japanese office gave GameSpot a brusque "no comment" on the regional lock issue, which would suggest that it was not a conscious decision by the company, or that they were not aware that the absence of regional coding would cause such a stir. In any case, this mystery should be solved when replacement copies of the game hit Japanese retail shelves; if they fail to boot up on American systems, the real reason for the recall will no longer be in doubt.

 

Early on in the Xbox's life, Microsoft announced that individual game publishers would be able to choose whether their games would be tied to a specific territory's hardware or not. Not surprisingly, publishers voted overwhelmingly in favor of region locks, which allow them greater control over distribution, marketing, and licensing.

 

By Chris Kohler -- GameSpot

POSTED: 10/29/04 04:25 PM PST

Credits: http://www.gamespot.com

 

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Well, good thing Capcom acted fast. However, I'm sure that the game has already been copied in the "underground" territories.

[Gryph]

Lucky for those that already got it.

[Shibathedog]

do i sense an Xbox Boot disc type method about to arise?

 

also i wouldnt say that we can be SURE thats the reason they recalled it if it doesnt boot up in US systems with teh new release, they could have been fixing something else and thought, hey, while where at it lets fix this region thing.

[Prican25]

highly doubt a boot disc of sorts but it was nice that it was playable in any xbox including live.

 

tho i also read that capcom said there was a slight sound problem and that the new version would take up a month before retailers get the new version. this also counts for anyone that was willing to send their free-region copy for the so called fixed one.

[Ghosty]

I Cant See Why Its So Bad That It Boots In All Regions. Can Some One Tell Me Why?

[StriderVM]

Well, it's like this...

 

In a basic sense, Street Fighter 2 Anniversary Collection is a fighting game, so which the fighting is most important (Story is second.). So when a game made in Japan boots in all X-Box hardware, there a chance a lot of people will import a the Japanese version since, it is already available and playable regardless of the region of your console. And because of that... The localization of the game will suffer because of less sales, because a lot of people bought the Japanese version already.

 

That is company logic.... ^^

[BoomBa_GoosE]

u kno this region-free one could be an interesting collecter's item...its like one of those beanie-babies that has like a jacked up eye or sumthin and theres only like 5 of em in the world and its worth thousands...somethin like that haha...

 

 

and yes, no region free games bc its all marketing. thats why import games are so darn expensive.

[Prican25]

look at gameboy, its been free region for a long time but of course with each region has its language EG: pokemon blue jap will play on usa gb's but it will only be in japanese.

 

M$ gave companies the chioce to do region lockouts and capcom did it but unlike a japanese pokemon game its in english and japanese so ppl who got the free region version are loving it and get to play online.

[Ghosty]

Thank You Guys, All 3 Of Ya's,.. And Now I See. Thnks

[DanManXZ]

do i sense an Xbox Boot disc type method about to arise?

 

also i wouldnt say that we can be SURE thats the reason they recalled it if it doesnt boot up in US systems with teh new release, they could have been fixing something else and thought, hey, while where at it lets fix this region thing.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I highly doubt that. Do you think that could be done? I think that an X-Box checks for region protection constanty all the time. Cuz M$ doesn't want there users to take advantage of there system.